I recently read–practically in one sitting–On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. He is a writer I have obviously known of practically since childhood, yet have never read one of his novels. I’ve never been a fan of horror, and simply never picked one up, despite the fact there are certainly a few old paperbacks dotted about my Dad’s shelves, it’s not a place I often go for my books (Sorry Dad), our literary tastes have just never overlapped.

I picked up On Writing because I wanted to read more ‘writers on writing’, following my last piece on Substack, and because due to life over the past few months I have felt quite creatively stuck. I wasn’t necessarily looking for a lesson on writing–I am already on a Writing masters programme–but thought it couldn’t hurt to read what an accomplished writer had to say about, well, writing.

I am going to try to set out the main fragments of usable advice I noted down from King’s book (though I would recommend reading it, too–his voice comes through in such a way I found myself wanting to have a conversation with him.)

Here are my scribblings on the TOOLBOX page, where I noted everything ‘of note’ that I thought I might find helpful. Maybe you will too. I will set them out in full, though not in order; I failed to maintain any order to my TOOLBOX page scribblings, but I don’t think it matters.

Your vocabulary is enough. But read more. Read a lot.* And write a lot.

If you are planning to be a writer, your vocabulary is probably fine. Plus some writers don’t write verbose long sentences, and they’re still great. Your vocabulary naturally expands the more you read, besides.

*Read widely.

The only way to decide what you like, what you don’t like, and to learn new words is simply to read. And if you read only one writer, or genre, or type of book, you are limiting yourself. Read things you don’t even know if you’ll like, maybe you will. Read things that challenge you. Just read.

Learn the beat.

It comes with practice, but you’ll learn when there should be a new sentence, a new paragraph, a new chapter. It’s like your breath, your beat.

Tell the truth.

Self explanatory, be honest. Of course, fiction is fiction, but don’t lie to yourself and don’t lie to your readers, write what feels natural.

And, the key to good dialogue is honesty.

Listen to people. Write like people speak.

Less passive voice.

Passive voice = weak writing. ‘The body was carried’ versus ‘they dragged the body from the kitchen’ is approximately the example King used, I believe. Active is stronger, and carries the story more.

Adverbs are dandelions.

Sometimes writing ‘said’ is fine. Everything doesn’t have to have an adverb, they are like weeds and if you don’t de-weed your garden they’ll take over. There will always be some, and that’s okay. But don’t have a garden that is all dandelions and no grass (or intentionally planted flowers).

Two drafts and a polish. Take 6 weeks before redrafting. And, 2nd draft = 1st draft - 10%

Solid advice, stands on its own.

Write what you like, and imbue it with you.

You find what you like to read by reading, then write that. Everything you write is ‘you’ in some way, so bring yourself to it. It doesn’t have to be autofiction, but write what you know.

Research is important, but you’re writing a novel not a research paper.

You can research what you don’t know, but you’ll probably bore your reader with pages of facts (especially if that’s not the kind of book you set out to write). I once went on a two page ramble about Barthes after mentioning him in a novel in progress, and while I found it interesting, was told in both formal and informal feedback that it took away from the story and, in short, no one cares as much as I do. So…

Murder your darlings.

Another piece of advice I have been given before. I hate it, naturally, but it is true. Kind of like how King says your second draft should be 10% less than your first. Sometimes, you really love something, but it doesn’t work, doesn’t need to be there, adds nothing to the story, the list goes on; this part comes in editing and sometimes listening to criticism is helpful. Sometimes you are your own critic, and that’s helpful too. But murder your darlings, much like you must uproot your dandelions.

For King, mornings are prime writing time. Write 1000 words a day (even take a day off a week) and in roughly 3 months you have a draft of your novel.*

*This is advice I covered briefly in ‘Writers on writing’, though not King’s schedule specifically, I read about it while researching to write the piece. Every writer is different, and even King cites that what works for one may not work for another. I do think this is useful baseline advice though, and 1000 words a day is manageable (within reason of course). Sometimes, I could write 1000 words and keep going, sometimes the thought of 100 words makes me want to throw my laptop out of the window. I do also write best in mornings, though, and am going to try (key word try) to follow this for a while, perhaps, and see what happens.

Find a happy medium in terms of description.

Too much description takes the reader out of what is going on. As King acknowledges, some writers are flowery and descriptive, some are hard-boiled and to the point. Again, everyone’s different, but find your happy medium because too much description (much like, in my case, too many lamentations on Barthes) bores your reader and stops the story progressing.

Similarly, find a happy medium in terms of pacing.

Comes with the beat, and you’ll find your pacing–some writers are naturally fast-paced, and some slower, but the best writing keeps the reader wanting to actually read it. Seems simple but pacing is important–think about the last time you read a book you really liked, but ended up DNF-ing, or putting down for a prolonged period of time before reluctantly trying again. It was probably the pacing that did it.

There are three main things: description, narrative, and dialogue. The plot comes by itself.

You have enough to worry about carrying the narrative, writing engaging dialogue, and balancing the description with the storytelling. If you set it up well, the plot will start to form itself and there is no need for an A1 storyboard telling you exactly what happens next. You’ll know.

The best stories are character driven.

Precisely as above, start with your characters. Again, not too much description (or too much backstory, which can also kill your pacing), but an engaging character moves the plot effortlessly, and you’ll start to know what they would do next. This is called a plot, and it just started forming itself.

Boredom is good for writers’ block. Take long walks.

We should all be more bored. I am trying to have an ‘analog autumn’ (ironically, something I read on Substack inspired me, linking it here). This involves consuming more physical media (books, magazines etc.) but also allowing myself to be more bored, not looking at my phone or doing other things obsessively to fill time. I also always feel better after a walk, so this is good advice even outside of writing.

Good fiction begins with the story then progresses to the theme, not the other way round.

Good writing is about the story and may express some overarching moral or be tied together by theme, but you find it or embrace it while you are writing, not the other way around.

Second drafts are to find your symbolism and theme. If it’s there, run with it.

In this way, while you read your first draft and inevitably pick it apart, you’ll find common threads that run throughout. A theme might appear, run with it. Similarly, there might be symbolism you pick up on that wasn’t even intended–if it works, run with it.

Scan the trees, then step back and look at the forest.

Line-edit, of course, but look at the big picture. Are there sweeping inconsistencies? Does it ‘work’ as a whole? Do you like what you just wrote?

You are your first reader.

An important thing to remember. You have to write something which you enjoy reading–you are the first one who has to read it (and probably the person who cares about it the most). If you write something you enjoy, you’ve made at least one person happy.

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This is not a guide or a condensed ‘how to’ from King’s book, and I would definitely recommend reading it, but hopefully you might find the same tidbits I picked out in it interesting and useful like I do. King doesn’t set up his advice as an overarching masterclass, and I like that he acknowledges that everyone is different. But a couple of these felt like they resonated with me, and might do with you too.

I will be spending the coming weeks trying to imbue my practice with some of King’s pointers, continuing to fight this awful mystery illness which everyone and their Mum seems to have, and braving the pending Scottish winter which my boyfriend says has me dressing like Kevin from Home Alone (many scarves).

All my love,

H xx